Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to this program. I'm
glad you could join us, and I hope that it will be a blessing to
you as you read and study the Word of God, because that's what
this program is all about, teaching and preaching in the Bible. And
today I'm going to be preaching from the first Psalm, Psalm 1. And the title of the message
is The Great Division. The Great Division. I mentioned
this in last week's program, how many people believe that
the Bible is a book of unity. And it is unity for the people
of God, the children of God, true believers. But the Bible
is a great divider. In fact, if you go from Genesis
to Revelation, you can see that the Bible, God's Word, divides
the whole human race into two different groups of people. We
can describe these two different groups in many, many ways. Psalm 1 sets the tone for this.
It sets the tone for all the Psalms, actually. The great division
there is between the godly and the ungodly between the people
of God and those who are still lost in their sins, many of whom
will continue on and die in their sins. So that's the division. But I want to start by giving
you a little theology lesson or doctrinal lesson concerning
two words. And the reason I want to do that
is, you know, some people they'll read Psalm 1. I preached from
this years ago and I haven't done it in a long time and that's
what got this on my mind. Psalm 1, listen to this, it says
in verse 1, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly, and you might have the word in your concordance
in your Bible, the wicked, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. So here's the man,
he says, that does not walk according to the counsel of the ungodly,
doesn't stand in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful. That represents man in every walk of life. He walks,
he stands, he sits. It's a metaphor of describing
man in every walk of life, every stage of life. He starts off
with the word blessed. What does it mean to be blessed?
A lot of people, in fact, a lot of the modern translations will
translate the word blessed both in the Old Testament and the
New Testament as the word happy. And I certainly don't want to
promote sadness or anything like that. I mean, you know, I want
to be a happy person as a believer. I'm not always happy though,
but I'm always blessed. To be blessed means to be graced
of God. It means you're an object and
a recipient of God's grace. Outside of being an object of
God's grace and a recipient of God's grace, all there is is
cursed. Now a cursed person can walk
through this life and not know he's cursed. And he can be happy
for a time, He can be happy through his life and even up unto death,
but he's still cursed. And a blessed person can go through
some strong trials that'll make him very sad, but he's still
blessed. So what's the difference? Well,
the doctrinal issues that I was gonna talk to you about was number
one, the word justification. The godly person here that he's
talking about is one who is justified before God. And then sanctification. The godly person is one who knows
he's justified before God. Now, what is it to be justified?
Well, justification is a legal matter, like in a court of law. And it has to do with a person,
for example, who's accused of a crime, he's guilty. And therefore,
the only way he can be justified is for that crime to be paid
for. Well, the Bible teaches that all of us fell in Adam,
ruined by the fall, and therefore deserve nothing but condemnation
and death. And we're born in trespasses
and sins, we're sinners. And if God were to ever give
us what we deserve or what we've earned, it would be eternal damnation
and death. That's what the Bible says. All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We missed the
mark. And it tells us that we cannot
get out of this mess of sin and deserving God's wrath by our
works, not even our best efforts. Now to be justified, as far as
the Bible is concerned, is for a sinner to be forgiven of all
their sins, exonerated, and to be declared just, righteous before
God. How is that possible? And the
only way is the way of God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ who stands as the surety
of God's people whom he gave him before the foundation of
the world, imputing their sins to them. In other words, it's
like if I have a debt, and that's what the word iniquity kind of
that it is a connotation of. It's, I don't measure up. I owe more than I can pay. In
fact, I can't even pay a penny. And so, like for example, the
Bible says there's none righteous, no not one. And so, the debt
of my sins is charged to Christ. That's a legal matter. The guilt
of my sin is charged to Christ. He became guilty not because
of any sin that he did or thought or any sin infused or imparted
to him or any corruption in him, based totally legally on the
sins of his people imputed, charged, accounted to him. And what he
did is he went to the cross and died for those sins and paid
the debt in full. That's what he did. That's what
the Bible means when it says our sins are bore away, washed
away. It means Christ paid the debt
in full. Jesus paid it all. All to him
I owe. And if the debt's paid, then
you're justified. God cannot charge them to you.
If God charged our sins to Christ, He cannot charge them to us.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justifies. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. This is Romans 8, 33 and 34.
Christ died, yea, rather is risen again, seated at the right hand
of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us. And
so those who are godly have been justified before God based on
Christ's righteousness imputed to them. It was a righteousness
that they themselves have no part in producing or accommodating
or appropriating. It was totally an act of God.
Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God
that justified. God's the great judge of all.
This is His work. If I'm justified, that means
I'm forgiven of all my sins on a just ground, the blood of Christ,
the death of Christ. And I'm declared righteous before
God on a just ground, the righteousness of Christ that he worked out
in his obedience unto death is imputed, charged, accounted to
me. Romans 4, 6, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without works. Now, if I have been justified
before God, based upon Christ's righteousness imputed, then it
is sure and certain that at some point in time, appointed by God
and guided by Christ through the Holy Spirit, that I will
be brought under the preaching of the gospel and be born again
by the Spirit, be given life. See, I'm spiritually dead by
nature. I don't have spiritual ears and spiritual eyes to hear
and see these things. And when I hear them and see
them, I reject them. I don't think anything else.
But when the Holy Spirit comes in power, in the new birth, Christ
said you must be born again or you cannot see the kingdom of
God. You cannot enter the kingdom
of God. He told his disciples, blessed are your eyes for they
see, your ears for they hear. You've been given spiritual eyes
and spiritual ears. When the Holy Spirit brings me
under the preaching of the gospel and gives me life, a new heart,
a new life, and gives me knowledge that I didn't have before. Convicts
me of my sin, convicts me of righteousness and judgment, and
brings me to, by God-given faith, to Christ for all salvation. Makes me a believer. For by grace
are you saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, for
we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, not because of, but unto good works, which God hath
before ordained that we should walk in them. That's Ephesians
2, eight through 10. Then we become godly. And then we know
about our justification. That's called sanctification
of the spirit, where the spirit sets us apart in believing Christ. Separates us from the world. Now, that's what's being spoken
of and described here in Psalm 1. Look at verse 1. Blessed is
the man, graced, justified, sanctified by grace is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly. Now, what is the counsel of the
ungodly? Well, it's any way of salvation
other than the right way, the way of God's grace, the way of
Christ. the way of His suretyship, the
way of imputation, the way of righteousness, the way of the
cross. Whatever way you're walking in,
whatever your ideas or your take on how sinners are saved, if
it's not the way that God has laid down in His book, the Bible,
which is the one way of Christ, Christ the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me, he said.
If it's not the way of God, it's the counsel of the ungodly. It
may be a way of morality. It may be a way of religion.
It may be a way of sincerity and charity. It may be a way
somebody says, let's go out here and let's build an orphanage
and house all the orphans. That's a good thing, isn't it?
It is in man's eyes. But if you're looking to that
to save you or make you righteous before God, it's the counsel
of the ungodly. It's a false gospel. Salvation
is not by works, no matter what the works are. Not even, listen,
not even your believing. It's the way of God's grace.
And so he says, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners. Now the
way of sinners is what I've just been describing here. You see,
let's talk about that great division in another way. We are all sinners,
all of us. If you're listening to me right
now, living and breathing here, the Bible classifies you as a
sinner. I'm a sinner. There's only two
types of people. There's sinners lost in their
sins and there are sinners saved by grace. Now, some people will
say, well, since I've been saved, I'm no longer a sinner because
of places like this. And sometimes in the context
of the Bible, the word sinners refers strictly to unbelievers. And I'm no longer an unbeliever,
I'm a believer. But a believer is a sinner saved
by grace. Now this is talking about unbelievers
here. The person who's blessed is not
standing in the way of sinners. The way of sinners is a way of
salvation, a way of blessing that is apart and opposed to
God's way. I was born in sin and dead in
trespasses and sins, and I walked in the way of sinners before
God saved me, before the Holy Spirit brought me under the gospel
and gave me life. And then he says, nor sitteth
in the seat of the scornful. Those who scorn God's way. To scorn something means that
you do not place upon it the value that it deserves. It's
like to disrespect. And anybody who does not believe
the gospel, the true gospel, wherein the righteousness of
God is revealed, wherein God tells us how he justifies the
ungodly by imputing the sins of his people to Christ and imputing
their righteousness to him, to that person, imputing Christ's
righteousness to that person, a person who doesn't believe
that and doesn't value that is a scorner. So if you're not in
the counsel of the ungodly, the way of sinners and the seed of
the scornful, you're blessed. He says in verse two, now this
blessed man, he said, his delight is in the law of the Lord. Now
the law, that's the word of God. Now how in the world can a sinner
delight in the law? The law says do and live, disobey
and die. Well, there's only one way that
I as a sinner can delight in the law, and that's to look at
it in Christ. Romans 10, four. For Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. You
see, the law demands perfect righteousness. Doesn't give me
one. Doesn't show me how to make one
other than do and live. The law demands perfect righteousness. Where am I gonna find perfect
righteousness? I find it only in Christ. I don't
find it in me. I'm a believer, but my faith,
I still struggle with the flesh. The flesh, which is sin within
me, still corrupts and contaminates everything I think, say, and
do. I pray to God, but my prayers sometimes are selfish. The only
way my prayers are accepted with God is through the blood of Christ,
my great high priest. I worship, sometimes in worship,
my mind wanders. You see what I'm saying? I'm
a sinner. So where am I going to find the righteousness, the
perfection of righteousness required by the law? Only in Christ. And
therefore I can delight in the law because Christ is my substitute,
my surety. He's my righteousness. And it
says, and in his law doth he meditate day and night. In the
meditations of prayer, the meditations of thought. Look at verse three. This blessed person shall be
like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth
his fruit in his season. The fruit of faith, the fruit
of repentance, the fruit of perseverance, which is all by the grace of
God. You see, these things are not the cause of our salvation
and blessedness, they're the fruit of it. The cause is the
sovereign grace of God and the sovereign love of God. The ground
of it is the imputed righteousness of Christ, His blood and righteousness.
The fruit of it is faith and repentance and perseverance.
And it said, his leaf also shall not wither and shall not fade
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. Now that doesn't mean
that everything he touches is gonna turn to gold physically.
but it means that whatever he does in worshiping and serving
God will prosper. Why? Because there's merit in
him? No, because of Christ, because of the grace of God. Now here's
the great division. Look at verse four. He says,
the ungodly are not so. The ungodly refers there to unbelievers. We're all unbelievers by nature,
as I said. But if we've been justified before
God based upon Christ's righteousness imputed, at some point in time,
God's going to come with the Spirit and bring us under the
gospel and bring us to Christ in the new birth. But those who
are unbelievers, they cannot claim any of these blessings. They cannot rightfully claim.
They may claim them, but that doesn't belong to them. You can't
know that they belong to you until God brings you to Christ. So the ungodly are not so, but
they're like the chaff which the wind driveth away. See, that's
the opposite of the plush living fruit. It's dead chaff. Verse five, therefore the ungodly
shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous. Now sinners there refers to unbelievers. He's not saying that we're not
sinners if we're saved. He's separating the great division. He's making this great division.
The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. What is the judgment
all about? Well, God's going to, he's got
a scale up there, and he's going to weigh your good works with
your bad works. And then whichever one tips the
scales, if your bad works tip the scales, you're going to hell,
and if the good works tip it, you're going to, now is that
what the Bible teaches? No. Somebody told me one time,
said, well, what about in the book of Daniel, where it says,
thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting? Well, my friend,
by nature and by works, that's what we all are. The scales,
you know what the balance is? Is perfect righteousness. We
don't have it by our works. So if he's gonna weigh our works
against righteousness, then my friend, we're goners. Do you know what the standard
of judgment is? In the book of Acts, chapter
17, the apostle Paul was given an opportunity to preach the
gospel to philosophers, thinkers and religionists in the city
of Athens. You ever heard of Athens, Greece?
That's the city of the philosophers. And in Acts 17, Paul the Apostle
was given an opportunity to preach the gospel. Well, they weren't
Jews. They weren't familiar with the
Old Testament. So he starts with the God of
creation. the God who created us all. You
see, Paul didn't preach the God of, he didn't talk about Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob as he would to the Jews, because most of
these Greeks had never heard of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
So he starts with the God of creation, and he brings it down
to where every person is accountable to that God, and yet we are all
sinners. And so God has commanded all
men everywhere to repent. He says that in Acts 17, 30.
And then he says in verse 31 of Acts 17, he says this. He
says, God has commanded all men everywhere to repent because
God has appointed a day in the which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath appointed, in that
he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised
him from the dead. Now who's that talking about?
It's talking about Christ. And the assurance that Christ
is the standard of judgment and his righteousness is the standard,
is that God raised him from the dead. So my only hope to stand
at judgment. What does he say here? Therefore
the ungodly shall not stand. They're going to fall. They're
going to be pronounced guilty. If you go through this life and
die in unbelief, when it comes to the judgment, you will fall. You have no way of justification. Your sins are charged to you,
imputed to you. and God must pronounce wrath
and condemnation and death upon all sinners to whom sin is imputed. You know, preachers today, they
like to say, well, God condemns sin, or He condemns sin but not
the sinner. Now, let me tell you something.
The ungodly shall not stand at the judgment. He doesn't say
here the ungodliness will not stand. The ungodly, the person,
God condemns sinners. Now, yes, He does condemn sin. But if you go through this life
and live and die in unbelief of this gospel wherein the righteousness
of God revealed, which is Christ, you'll stand before God on your
own without a mediator, without a savior, without a surety, without
a substitute, having your sins charged to you and there will
be no recourse but for God. to pronounce judgment and hell
and death upon you. The ungodly shall not stand in
the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
The righteous stand before God not in their works, but in Christ,
washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness. Now clothed
is just a metaphorical way of talking about Christ's righteousness
imputed to them. They're justified. They're forgiven. Paul describes it in Philippians
chapter three when he says, that I wanna know Him, Christ. I wanna know Christ, not having
mine own righteousness, which is of the law. I wanna be found
in Christ. When I stand before God at judgment,
I don't wanna stand there on my own, pleading my own merits,
I have done. but I want to be found in Him,
not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of, the faithfulness of Christ, the
righteousness which is of God by faith, which I receive by
faith. That's Philippians chapter three.
Well, look at verse six. He says, for the Lord knoweth
the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall
perish. That word knoweth there means that God has an intimate,
saving, loving knowledge of the way. It doesn't mean that God
is just aware of their names. When Christ spoke of the false
preachers in Matthew 7, 21 through 23, and who got up and proclaimed
that they had preached and cast out demons and done many wonderful
works in his name, In other words, they were pleading what they
thought God had enabled them to do as their righteousness.
Christ said, depart from me, ye that work iniquity, I never
knew you. Doesn't mean he didn't know who
they were. Doesn't mean he wasn't aware of who they were and what
they were doing. It means that he didn't know
them in grace, in love, in salvation, in election. But the Lord knows
the way of the righteous. It's the way that he made. It's
the way of His grace. It's the way of Christ. It's
the way of the cross, the way of the blood, the way of the
death of Christ. It's the way of righteousness
that comes by virtue of God's grace through Christ, which is
imputed to His people, and from which they have life and inner
glory. Romans 5.21, as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Not by our works. And so he says the way of the
ungodly shall perish. The Bible says the Lord knows
them that are his. He gave them to Christ. Their
names were written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation
of the world. That's the Lamb slain. And it's
all about Christ, you see. Godliness and ungodliness, that
great division, can be defined as people stand in relation to
Christ. Do you believe in Him and rest
in Him and love Him and follow Him by the grace of God? Or do
you scorn Him? Go about life as if it doesn't
matter? Well, I hope not. Hope you'll
join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1102 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
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today and may the Lord be with you.